The Home Plate on East Road in Pittsfield doesn’t look like much from the outside. I’ve tried to direct friends to it before, and they always get confused. “That house with the neon signs in the window?”

Inconspicuous exterior aside, I’d have to say the Home Plate is probably my favorite bar in the Berkshires.

Because when I get in there – if they’re not filled to capacity, which they usually are by 1:15 – no one is friendlier than bartender Paul “Peels” Jamross. Bouncer Morty is also a down dude – but if they’re full up, he’s hard to get past. (Unless you’re a dashing local writer.)

Peels almost always in good spirits. There’s nothing worse than a standoffish bartender, and Peels knows many of his customers by name. I frequently get hooked up with free-drink chips – little wooden poker chips that say “One free drink at the Home Plate Cafe.” Always awesome. And, like a REAL bar should, they keep a deck of cards behind the bar for those souls interested in a game of Up the River, Down the River or Asshole.

My advice is to get there before 1 a.m. The place is usually dead till then, anyway. Then everyone leaves alllll the other bars in the city to flood the Plate. Like I said, get there before then. And if you’re one of the early patrons, you’ll get the frozen glass mugs instead of the plastic cups.

So have fun at all those fancy little Pittsfield bars. Then finish your silly $8 chocolate martini and stagger into the Home Plate, like everyone else who knows what’s up.

EmbassyRow37: More bars should have as much hockey memorabilia.

Amen, brother. Amen.